College Sports Blog

Another day, another name emerges for the Texas defensive coordinator job.

First was can’t-miss frontrunner Randy Shannon. Then Teryl Austin became the guy, no doubt about it, from on-line reports. DeWayne Walker surfaced as a possibility, a front-runner and then an apparent non-candidate – all in the span of a couple of hours in the Twitterverse.

The new hot name Sunday night is Tennessee defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, in reports that seem to have originated around the Volunteers program. First FootballRumorMill.com suggested Wilcox was in “serious discussions” with Texas. Then other sites joined the party, with Rivals affiliated VolQuest.com indicating Wilcox was a “viable candidate of interest.” Next step: mad message board panic.

Here’s what we know from the Texas standpoint: Mack Brown is still keeping his own counsel and nothing appears imminent. Everything indicates that Brown will not be raiding staffs of teams before bowl games and Tennessee is playing in the Music City Bowl on Dec. 30. Plus, the Texas coordinator jobs will attract a lot of highly qualified candidates, many of whom may be with teams in bowls. For agents, it’s a dream situation to create leverage for clients.

Anybody not named Mack Brown who claims to know exactly what’s happening is probably wrong.

That said, Wilcox is an intriguing name with an interesting resume.

Wilcox, 34, is finishing his first season at Tennessee as the successor to Monte Kiffin. The Vols weren’t as good defensively (70th nationally) as in 2009, mainly because the talent wasn’t as good with players like Eric Berry departing.

Wilcox spent four seasons as defensive coordinator at Boise State, compiling a nice track record with the Broncos. His father, Dave, was a Hall of Fame linebacker with the San Francisco 49ers.

He made $600,000 in the first season of a three-year contract and has a $300,000 buyout, which should not be stumbling block if Texas and Brown is truly interested. As we’ve learned in the past week, the “if” is a crucial factor.